This Blog is Dedicated to My Daughter

This blog is dedicated to my daughter, Ana, who is a carrier of severe hemophilia A, and my possible future granddaughters who will also carry the gene. I am passionate about birthing, and specifically safely birthing hemophiliacs. My hemophiliac son, Elijah was 10 lbs 14 oz at birth, born at home in a birthing pool with a midwife present. He did not have any bruising, and I did not have any tearing. He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia A at 4 months old because of 2 unexplainable hematomas along his waistline. It was pretty scary. I found out that I was a carrier just before his first birthday. A few months later, right before his port surgery, I was pregnant again. This was the first time I would plan a birth with the knowledge that I was a carrier of a severe bleeding disorder. Of course, I wanted to have another home waterbirth! After all, Elijah had an amazing birth, right?! I soon found out that it wouldn't be that easy this time. No licensed midwife could take me for a homebirth despite my birth history of 3 perfect waterbirths at home, one being a nearly 11 pound severe hemophiliac. My hemotologist even suggested that I schedule a c-section. I searched and searched the internet for information on hemophilia and childbirth. I found nothing on waterbirthing a hemophiliac, and I didn't find anything that convinced me that the normal natural birth process put a potential hemophiliac in danger for a bleed. In fact, all the bleeding problems I found were a result of using interventions during the birth. In the end, we had our fourth baby's birth in the hospital. This amazing hospital allowed us to bring our own birthing pool, and even made room for it by moving the bed to the hallway. We had a great midwife, and our baby boy had the most gentle birth yet! 2 hours later, we learned that he did not have hemophilia.

The purpose of this blog is to share stories and information to learn together about planning the safest birth possible as a hemophilia carrier, for our babies and ourselves. Wouldn't it make life easier if we could just keep them in bubble wrap?!!